20 Percent of BlackBerry 10 Apps Are Android Stepchildren

BlackBerry purposefully built BlackBerry 10 to support Android applications in an emulator, and thanks to that move the company has found that 20 percent of its 100,000 applications were built on Android. It was a wise decision, especially because all eyes are on BlackBerry 10 and a large ecosystem of applications is key to attracting new users.

The percentage was recently revealed by BlackBerry’s vice president for global alliances and business development, Martyn Mallick, during an interview with AllThingsD. “Our users deserve to have great content,” Mallick said. “If that is the fastest way we can get some of that content, that’s great,” he added, referring to the ease of which developers can deliver Android apps to BlackBerry 10.

Mallick also told AllThingsD that developers who decide to use BlackBerry’s own application framework can add bonus features, like integration into BlackBerry Hub or even BlackBerry Messenger, and he hopes that these applications continue to populate the store. Still, having thousands of applications based on Android is a good thing.